Postoperative changes in the contralateral auditory brainstem response after microvascular decompression in cases of...

Postoperative changes in auditory brainstem response (ABR) in 40 patients with trigeminal neuralgia (TN) who underwent microvascular decompression (MVD) were analyzed. A high proportion (60%) were found to have a decrease in the latency of wave V in the contralateral (unaffected) ABR in the postoperative period. In some cases, a decrease in the latency of wave V was found on the unaffected side postoperatively while an increase was found on the affected side. Furthermore, in one case it was found that an improvement of the shortened latency of wave V on the unaffected side occurred in parallel with a recovery of prolonged latency on the affected side. This indicates that the decrease in the latency of wave V on the unaffected side corresponds to some retrocochlear lesion produced by MVD on the affected side, and shortened latency is considered to be a result of damage to the efferent system of the auditory pathway.